


fear is a crime (we'll be hanging side by side)

by amandamonroe



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexual Lucy Preston, Character Death Fix, Dubious Science, Female Friendship, Fix-It, Garcia Flynn Lives, Gen, Implied Relationships, Kidnapping, Minor Character(s), Non-Linear Narrative, POV Female Character, Polyamory, Post-Canon, Pregnancy, Queerplatonic Relationships, Rufus Carlin Lives, Temporary Amnesia, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:13:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23267533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amandamonroe/pseuds/amandamonroe
Summary: Months after Lucy Preston is kidnapped by Emma, a pregnant woman staggers into an emergency room, begging for help. Her interrogation raises more questions than answers. In an effort to save Rufus, the past has been changed in a way that the Time Team was never expecting.
Relationships: Garcia Flynn & Iris Flynn & Lorena Flynn, Garcia Flynn/Lorena Flynn, Garcia Flynn/Lorena Flynn/Lucy Preston, Garcia Flynn/Lucy Preston, Iris Flynn & Lorena Flynn, Iris Flynn & Lucy Preston, Lorena Flynn & Lucy Preston, Lorena Flynn/Lucy Preston
Comments: 12
Kudos: 19





	fear is a crime (we'll be hanging side by side)

**Author's Note:**

> The title of this comes from Lorde's song "Swingin Party"  
> So, this story... was originally supposed to be a lot longer and a lot more comprehensive. But alas, it is not! What you need to know before starting this is that Rufus is alive. What happened was thus: You can go back to a time you've already been if you don't leave the Lifeboat. So, here's what happened:
> 
> Future!Lucy and Future!Wyatt jumped back, told the team this, and left. Jiya piloted Wyatt and Denise in the Lifeboat back to Chinatown. Denise got out of the Lifeboat and ran off to shoot at Emma as she was shooting at Rufus. It startled her enough that she hit Rufus non-fatally in the shoulder. So, Denise runs back to the Lifeboat where Wyatt is waiting in the doorway (in case he needs to shot someone) and Jiya is prepared to jump them home. It's a success, and when they jump back, Rufus is there recovering. 
> 
> Emma is able to jump to the time of the Flynn's supposed death because she was already hidden in the past at that point. And the Flynn's weren't killed but instead captured for her because she went back to Benjamin Cahill as a young man and passed on instructions. Being a Rittenhouse lackey, he listened to what the mysterious woman said and when the time came, ordered the capture of Lorena and Iris. That's what allows Emma to transfer them to the present in the Mothership. A few days after the attack on the Flynns, two burned bodies are found that are "identified" as Lorena and Iris. Flynn still goes on the run and is accused of killing them, but does have his suspicions... especially when a different (and far more benevolent) woman appears in Sao Paolo and gives him hope. 
> 
> I tried to stay as close to the canon "science" as possible. As you may have guessed, we are ignoring the disaster that is codenamed "christmas".
> 
> This IS supposed to be confusing at first! I was going to write it as very non-linear and from multiple POVs, but I stuck with one POV so it ended up much shorter than originally intended. It's also kinda stylized, so it may not be everyone's cup of tea. Also, totally not sure what the rating of this should be. And some of the formatting was lost, sorry! 
> 
> Let me know what you think! 
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of any recognizable content. I do not make any money from this. This is purely for fun.

“Who are you?”

* * *

She choked on the night air, the red emergency room lights a teary blur just ahead. It was so close but she was so tired.

Fear was an excellent motivator however, and the sound of a car approaching her from behind was enough to propel her forward. Keeping one arm wrapped around herself, she put on a final burst of speed and staggered through the doors and into the clamor of an ER.

The recycled air was a shock after running through the cool night but anything was better than the faint smell of sulfur and mustiness she’d been trapped in for months.

She knew she needed help, but it was so strange to her. For the last twenty four hours—well, longer than that, really—she had done her best to remain unnoticed. Now, she needed to be noticed, she needed to get help.

Help.

“… help,” she whispered raggedly. No one heard her.

Deep breath.

“Somebody help me!” She yelled over the clamor of pain and organized chaos.

Her shriek was enough to grab the attention of the entire ER.

She sunk to her knees in relief and let the tears fall.

Everything sped up after that. Hospital workers rushed to her side and helped her to a bed, asking her questions, checking her over for injuries.

The only time she resisted was when a nurse tried to unwrap her arm from around her stomach. The nurse said something in a reassuring tone, the intention of which registered more than the actual words.

With reluctance, she allowed the nurse to help her out of her sweater.

The nurse gasped at the site of her swollen belly, so obvious on her slender build, and called out, prompting what was probably a doctor to rush over. They all seemed to concerned, but she wasn’t. She knew that she was okay, and her baby fluttered reassuringly from within.

After all, they weren’t the ones who needed helping.

Another nurse leaned over her and now everyone was asking questions.

She just didn’t have the energy to answer them anymore. Assuming what they were asking, she leaned back into the pillow and answered.

“My name is Lucy Preston.”

* * *

“Are you a member of Rittenhouse?”

* * *

She woke up with a start, as she did most days. She checked on her daughter, sleeping at her side. The last few months had been far harder on her than they had her child. What was that saying? About the resilience of children?

It didn’t really matter. The terror that her daughter had felt that night was something that would haunt her for the rest of her life.

“Mommy, what did the monsters do to Daddy?”

Telling her daughter that she didn’t know if her beloved father was dead or alive was… awful. She could barely make sense of it herself, how was a five year old supposed to understand? She still thought the world was a good place, a place that she could explore and enjoy without fear.

In a single night, that was all gone.

Emma didn’t care, either. She just saw their family as an obstacle, something that was in her way. She should be grateful that Emma hadn’t actively tried to hurt her or her daughter. That was probably more Jessica’s influence than anything.

“I’m impressed. Eight weeks pregnant and you try to go down fighting?”

“I’m pregnant?”

“According to your autopsy, yes.”

Jessica was the one who convinced Emma to let her see the same doctor she was using. Dr. McCabe was no kinder than professionalism dictated, but she had gentle hands and was honest. She and her baby were healthy so far, as was her daughter.

They rarely saw Emma- after she’d had them abducted, they’d seemingly lost all interest for her.

* * *

“You need to start talking. Now.”

* * *

She was so glad that the small room that had become her and her daughter’s home over the past month or so had an attached bathroom. From what she had glimpsed through the door when food was delivered, they were being held in a warehouse. They were probably in a converted foreman’s office. It made her think back to her own office.

When she had gotten pregnant the first time, she had stopped traveling as soon as she found out. Her husband had already made the transition to the private sector and was happy for her to join his company. She had consulted and advised on their international affairs, drawing on her years of observing the events of other’s lives.

She never thought that her life would be shaken by such an event.

For years, she had watched other people’s lives and families torn apart by war and disaster. It had bothered her, to an extent. It had taken some time, but she had learned to be both compassionate and detached. If she empathized with all the people involved, she would never be able to deliver a story.

As it was, she wasn’t sure if she’d have been able to do her job while pregnant, and not for the reasons people thought. Sure, she was more emotional, but it was more than that.

She was afraid.

Sure, there was some security around her and her camera crew was very careful but that didn’t change the fact that her reporting covered riots, natural disasters, and a host of other dangerous situations. She couldn’t put her unborn child in danger like that.

She couldn’t do it now, either.

With all the innocence of youth, her daughter had asked why they couldn’t just leave.

“Mommy, I don’t like it here. Can we go home?”

“No, I’m sorry baby.”

“Why not?”

There had been moments where the idea of escape had crossed her mind, but she had never acted on it. Right now, her daughter was safe, she had medical attention for her baby, and they were together. She had lost her husband. Risking separation from her daughter or harm to her baby… she couldn’t do it. It was too terrifying.

“Because… sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do.”

“Like when you make me eat peas?”

“Sure baby. Like that.”

Steamed vegetables… the meals Jessica delivered…

Just the thought of the plain boiled chicken that was typically served for dinner was enough to make her stomach roil and send her heaving over the toilet again.

* * *

“Who do you think you are? Start. TALKING!”

* * *

The door opened, and a woman was shoved in. She fell to the floor, obviously unconscious.

Rushing forward, she knelt at the woman’s side and checked for a pulse or head injury. Besides a lump on the side of her head, the other woman seemed alright. She grabbed her pillow off the bed she shared with her daughter and slipped it under the woman’s head.

After what couldn’t have been longer than twenty minutes—the only way she could tell time these days was by the thickening of her waist and surges of nausea—the woman woke with a groan of “Amy?” and blinked in confusion.

“No, I’m sorry,” she responded softly. “Do you know what happened?”

The other woman shifted to mirror her cross legged position on the concrete floor. “The last thing I remember is pulling into my driveway after work.”

The two sat in silence for a few minutes before the other woman shifted a bit. “Um, can I maybe sit on the bed? It’s cold down here.”

“Sure- just be quiet? My daughter just got to sleep.”

The other woman smiled and got to her feet. She paused. “Are you okay?”

She shrugged off her concern. “Oh I’m fine down here. I run pretty warm these days, the floor feels good.” And she wasn’t lying, it did- but she also wanted this other woman to rest. Maybe it was just the contrast of her dark eyes and almost-black hair, but she was so pale.

The other woman sat down on the bed next to her daughter and glanced at the sleeping child. “She’s beautiful. What’s her name?”

“Her name’s Iris.”

“That’s pretty,” the other woman murmured.

“I thought so too… my husband picked it out, actually.” At the thought of her husband, she burst into tears.

“Oh!” The other woman slipped off the bed and knelt next to her, wrapped an arm around her shaking shoulders. “What happened?”

“These men with guns c-came to my house. It was the m-middle of the night…” Through tears, she slowly told the other woman what had happened. Going to check on her daughter in the middle of the night. The men with guns. Her husband’s enraged screams, her own panicked pleas. Being dragged outside and forced into an oddly shaped vehicle. Falling unconscious and waking up here as Emma’s captive.

Eventually, she cried herself out and lifted her head off the other woman’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, I cried all over you and I don’t even know your name.” She wiped her eyes on her sleeve.

A soft laugh. “It’s okay. My name’s Lucy. Lucy Preston.”

“I’m Lorena Flynn, and you met Iris.”

* * *

“Being silent isn’t gonna do you any favors.”

* * *

Lorena bonded with Lucy fast and hard. Within several hours they were swapping life stories. At first, she thought that her growing connection to Lucy was simply the relief of having another adult to talk to who was in the same situation as she was. Once Iris woke up however, she realized that she wasn’t the only one drawn to Lucy.

She introduced Iris to Lucy, expecting the little girl to be shy. Instead, her daughter crawled across the bed where the three were sitting and leaned against Lucy’s side. Lucy looked startled for a moment, but quickly adapted, wrapping her arm around Iris’s small frame, much as she had her mother only hours previously.

Lucy’s child-friendly history stories were interrupted by the arrival of dinner. But, instead of Jessica simply setting a tray down and closing the door with a guilty wince, Emma stepped in as soon as she left.

Emma paid no attention to her or her daughter, instead choosing to stare down Lucy. “Hello there Princess,” she cooed, mockingly.

Lucy was confused. “Who are you?”

“Oh, this is funny,” Emma said. “I must’ve hit you harder than I thought!”

“Wait! What do you mean? You did this to me? What do you want?” Lucy cried out. Surprisingly, Emma answered.

“I want to ruin you. You thought I took everything from you? I’m just getting started.” Ominous message delivered, Emma left.

Iris wrapped her thin arms around Lucy, and Lorena followed her daughter to the other woman’s side. Lucy shook in her arms. “What did she do to me?” she whimpered.

“I don’t know.”

By the time she got Lucy calmed down, their dinner had gone cold. Iris didn’t seem too thrilled to be eating the cold green mush that had once been steamed broccoli, but she did. Personally, she understood her daughter’s disgust and if it had been just her, she would’ve skipped dinner. But she had her baby to think about.

* * *

“You’re no one. Nobody’s gonna miss you.”

* * *

A few days later, Lucy followed her into the bathroom as she made her way to the toilet to throw up. Soft hands held her hair back. She flushed the toilet and turned to Lucy with a grateful smile.

Brows drawn in concern, Lucy asked her if she was alright.

“Just morning sickness. Thanks for holding my hair back. I can’t very well ask Iris to do it.”

“You’re welcome. You… you’re pregnant? Is everything okay?” Lucy’s eyes darted to her belly, so she smoothed her shirt against the tiny bump.

“We’re both good. Jessica convinced Emma to have the same doctor she sees take a look at me every couple weeks.” After Emma’s first visit, she had spent some time giving Lucy an overview of what she knew. Granted, it wasn’t much but the historian seemed to cling to any scrap of new information that might help her figure out what was going on.

“Oh, that’s… nice of them, I guess.” Lucy paused. “I think I might’ve remembered something last night.”

“That’s good, right?”

“I’m not sure. What I remembered was really strange,” Lucy murmured. She shifted to a more comfortable position on the floor and looked over her shoulder towards the bed. Iris was still sleeping soundly. Her daughter had bonded with Lucy so quickly, and it was reassuring. Even with Jessica’s doctor checking on her and the baby periodically, they were still in such a bad situation. Should anything happen to her, she knew Iris would be safe with Lucy.

When it didn’t seem like Lucy was going to say anything else, Lorena reached out and squeezed her knee. “You can tell me anything, you know?”

“Yeah. I know.”

It wasn’t until that night that Lucy told her what she had remembered. They were lying in bed together like two parenthesis on either side of Iris. It was quiet in the darkness, the perfect setting for confession.

Confession… just another thing Lorena found herself missing from her old life. That’s the way she had started to think, since this all started. There was before, with Garcia, and now there was the after, which had come to include Lucy.

“I think I knew your husband.”

Of all the things she had thought Lucy might whisper, that hadn’t even been close.

She kept a hand over her growing belly as they spoke, and Lucy’s hand drifted to stroke Iris’s hair. The child seemed to keep the other woman calm as she told of time travel and terrorists, blood lines and battles. She thought that she would find it too fantastical to believe, but it made an unfortunate amount of sense, considering her own experience.

As it turned out, Lucy remembered everything.

Including a world in which the female Flynns had been murdered, Garcia framed for it.

Hearing that Emma’s twisted machinations were (probably, they suspected) the only reason she hadn’t been executed before learning of her unborn child’s existence, that her daughter had come so close to being executed was too much. She had known that she was supposed to be dead but learning of the horrific circumstances was something else entirely.

Lorena spent the rest of the night sobbing silently in Lucy’s arms.

* * *

“That’s the way you wanna play it? Fine.”

* * *

She had been raised in the Catholic church, had held many of those traditional values close her entire life. If someone had told her before that she would be accepting of her husband with another woman… well. She had never been the jealous type, but she couldn’t imagine that she would have accepted it so easily.

But this wasn’t before, this was after and Lucy had told her of a life in which she and Iris were dead and Garcia was so very alone.

The night Lucy had told her what she remembered before she was kidnapped by Emma- and she had admitted that she was still foggy as to how Emma had gotten her away from their secure bunker- she had also said that she and Garcia were together. Lucy herself wasn’t totally sure what they were, but they were close. They’d had sex several times, they leaned on each other for support.

If it were anyone else, it would bother her. But it was Lucy, a woman who she had become so close to in such a scary situation, a woman who she had come to think of as a mother to her daughter.

One morning, after the doctor had left, she told Lucy exactly that. The other woman had been quiet for some time before tears welled in her dark eyes and she nodded. She’d already spoken to Iris about it.

“Iris?”

“Yes Mommy?”

“You’re being such a brave girl, I’m so proud of you.”

“I’m not as scared with Lucy here. She helps me.”

“Yeah, I know she does. If anything happens to me, I want you to stay with Lucy, okay? Can you do that for me?”

“Where are you going?”

“Nowhere baby. It’s just in case.”

Sooner than expected, the time came.

In the end, it was all a blur. Lorena was almost positive that Jessica had forgotten to lock the door behind her after delivering dinner on purpose. The woman was nearing the end of her pregnancy, being a couple months ahead of her. She’d thought they had exchanged a look earlier, but hadn’t been sure until she failed to hear the all-to-familiar clack of the lock.

She had exchanged a glance with Lucy before kneeling in front of Iris. “Remember what I told you? About staying with Lucy? I need you to do that for me, okay?”

The little girl nodded, stubborn chin set just like Garcia’s. They embraced before she turned to Lucy.

“Keep her safe? Please?”

“Of course,” Lucy whispered back. “Please be careful.”

Choked up, Lorena flung her arms around Lucy. “If anything happens to me—”

“It won’t!” Lucy grasped her tighter, as though she could protect her from all the evils of Rittenhouse with her slender arms.

She shifted in Lucy’s arms until she could look her in the eyes. “I’m not sure I can explain to you how much you mean to me,” she whispered. “I’m not sure what I would’ve done without you. I need you to take care of Iris as if she were yours, okay?”

Lucy gasped and the dam broke, tears spilling down her pale cheeks. “I love that little girl so much, I promise!” In thanks, Lorena pressed her forehead to Lucy’s. The two women shared a breath before she stepped back and crept out the door and into the empty warehouse.

* * *

Lorena wasn’t sure why she’d told the hospital staff that her name was Lucy Preston. It was an instinct, similar to the one that had prompted her to trust the woman herself. After all, Lorena Flynn was supposedly dead.

After being settled in a bed and given a preliminary exam and a hospital gown, she allowed herself to close her eyes and rest. She still wasn’t sure where she was, exactly. Somewhere in the United States, probably the Pacific Northwest. Running (as best she could at around six months pregnant, at least) in the dark of night in an attempt to find help had taken a lot out of her.

She was interrupted from her doze by a commotion outside her room. The blinds were drawn, so she couldn’t see what was going on, but it didn’t sound good. Lorena considered pulling out the IV and disconnecting the monitors, but that would set of various alarms. Besides, she was exhausted, no way she would be able to get passed anyone who was out there. Taking a deep breath and readjusting, she prepared herself.

One man’s voice rose about the din with his shouting. “Well where the hell is she?!” Her door crashed open to admit a man, probably several years younger than her. White, blonde hair, angry blue eyes that made her unconsciously cover her stomach.

As soon as he laid eyes on her, he spat “Who the fuck are you?” and turned to a woman standing behind him in the doorway. “This isn’t Lucy.”

Oh yeah.

This must be a member of Lucy’s team, the ones who were working with Garcia. But wait- Lucy and Garcia were together, kind of. The angry and possessive glint in this man’s eyes made her distinctly uncomfortable, so she stayed silent.

The woman standing behind him turned around and seemingly addressed more people out in the hall. “Go to the waiting room,” she commanded. With a faint accent, she was shorter than the man but demanded attention and compliance nonetheless. Closing the door, she purposefully stepped in front of it and eyed Lorena. “My name is Denise Christopher. I’m with the department of Homeland Security. This is a member of my team, Wyatt Logan.” She gestured to the man. “He’ll asking you some questions.” With that, Christopher turned and left the room.

The door closed with an ominous click behind her. The instant Christopher left the room, Logan stepped forward. She supposed he was intimidating- the way he was glaring at her was really making her nervous- but Lorena had been through too much the past several months to be frightened of him. She and her daughter had been kidnapped, taken to the future, her husband framed for their murders. She was pregnant and held captive by a woman with a vendetta who she was convinced was an actual sociopath. She had bonded more quickly and intensely with a woman she’d known less than twenty four hours faster than anyone before, save Iris. She'd had to leave that very same woman behind after weeks, maybe months together, in order to go find help. She'd had to leave her daughter behind too.

All in all, Logan? Wasn’t a threat. Sure, he could intimidate her all he wanted, but Lorena didn’t think he would physically harm her. She could see part of Christopher’s head through the vertical window in the hospital room door. Hospitals weren’t all that soundproof; she remembered that from her time giving birth to Iris.

Logan stepped forward and grabbed the bars on the foot of the bed. “Who are you?”

She knew she could scream if need be, but wasn’t sure if it was warranted just yet.

“Are you a member of Rittenhouse?” Logan demanded.

When Lorena didn’t answer, he released the bed frame with a rattle and started to pace around the room. Lucy had told her all about Rittenhouse once her memory came back, so she understand his need to determine if she was some solider or sleeper agent. Didn’t mean she had to play his game.

Suddenly, Logan spun to face her. “You need to start talking. Now.” The order came through gritted teeth. Lorena examined him dispassionately before dropping her gaze to the blankets over her lap.

“Who do you think you are? Start. TALKING!”

This time, when Logan shouted, Lorena flinched slightly. After so long in a room with just Lucy and occasionally Emma, Jessica, and the doctor, a raised male voice was a rather unpleasant change… especially when it was accompanied by such misplaced anger.

“Being silent isn’t gonna do you any favors,” Logan continued.

Lorena wondered if he’d noticed that she was pregnant. She like to hope that if he had, he wouldn’t have been so outwardly threatening. But then again, how was she to know what he was really like? Christopher had sent him to talk to her for a reason.

It was Logan’s threat that really shook Lorena to the core.

“You’re no one. Nobody’s gonna miss you.”

He really had no idea who she was did he? At this point, Lorena wasn’t sure if telling him was a good idea. She couldn’t help but think back to a story that one of her colleagues had reported on years ago, about prisoners of war. The conditions they were kept in, the interrogation tactics that were employed, even when they did talk…

Was that in her future?

“That’s the way you wanna play it? Fine.” With that, Logan strode to the door.

“Wait,” Lorena called out softly.

He turned around. “Finally decided you’re gonna talk to me?”

Hell no! But, he obviously wasn’t going to listen to a thing she said, even if she did tell him the truth. Lorena just needed someone to listen to her, so that Lucy and Iris could be rescued. Logan was not the person.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“I can’t hear you,” Logan snapped and moved closer. Good.

“I said I’m s- oh!” She fake a pain in her abdomen and bent her head down, curling her body to the side of the bed closest to the night stand. Lorena was just glad that she hadn’t been handcuffed to the bed by Logan.

“What’s wrong?” He stepped closer and reached out a hand towards her.

There.

As quick as she could, Lorena grabbed the corded phone and its base from the table. She swung with a hard backhand and Logan dropped to the floor in a daze.

Ignoring the pain and sudden screeching of machines, she disconnected her IV and the monitors and scrambled to the door. Making sure to yank the phone cord from the wall, she clutched it tight and avoided where Logan was groaning on the floor.

Lorena flung open the door and came face to face with a startled Christopher. With a cry, she struck out at the agent and forced her exhausted body into a run. Heedless of the trail of blood she was dripping on the floor, she made her way down the hallway. She was thankful she’d been given a new pair of underwear with the hospital gown or she’d probably be even more freezing than she already was: The opened back gown was paper thin and her feet were bare on the linoleum floors.

Skidding around the corner, she came to a stop at a nurse’s station and a full waiting room.

Everyone was staring at her.

Lorena stared back for a moment and felt panic creep in when she noticed a security officer take notice of her state. She dropped the phone-turned-weapon. The spot on her arm where she’d torn out her IV was bleeding all over.

Suddenly, a much-loved and missed voice broke the shocked silence.

“Lorena?!”

Hearing her husband’s voice, she frantically searched the faces in the crowd until she saw him. She burst into sobs and staggered forward.

Garcia met her halfway and she flung her arms around his neck. Without a second of hesitation, he wrapped his arms around her waist and partially lifted her from the ground. Suddenly, Lorena couldn’t seem to stop shaking as she cried into his neck.

Lucy she mouthed between sobs, unable to get enough air to form words. Iris.

At the clamor of shouts and footsteps she pressed even closer to Garcia. She wanted to wrap herself and their baby up in him, to melt into him where she knew they would be safe, to stay there until he found Iris and Lucy.

“Stop, stop!” Garcia roared. “She’s my wife, she’s my wife!”

“She claimed to be Lucy,” Logan spat.

“More importantly,” and that was Christopher. Good, they weren’t too badly hurt- she hadn’t wanted to hurt them, just get them out of her way until she found someone who could help her and she had she’d found Garcia, “she assaulted two government agents.”

Garcia sputtered for a moment. “I’m sure she had a very good reason?”

Lorena couldn’t help it: She started giggling hysterically before crying again.

Easing her out of his arms, Garcia bent to meet her eyes. “Lorena, what…” he started, then trailed off. “You’re pregnant?” The hope in his voice send a surge of love through her. “This is real.”

“Yeah,” she whispered. “It really is.”

“Why don’t we move this happy reunion to somewhere more private, hm?” Lorena was starting to get a bit irritated with Christopher.

“No!” Oh, it felt so good to shout! “Not until you help me!”

“Wait, what’s wrong?” Garcia rested one palm on her cheek, the other on the swell of their child. That was her husband: Loving until the last.

“Emma has Lucy and Iris,” she finally said the words that had been running through her head. “You have to find them.”

Message delivered, Lorena passed out in her husband’s arms.

* * *

She woke to the sound of an unfamiliar voice.

“…followed the traffic camera down at the intersection… because I can?” A pause. “Well, why didn’t you figure it out first, in that case?!” A huff and then silence.

The voice was female, sounded young. Once the one-sided conversation was done (phone call, maybe?) there was the sound of rapid keyboard clicks.

Lorena opened her eyes to see a young woman perched in a chair at the foot of her bed. But she wasn’t in the hospital anymore. The room she was in was dimly light and mostly in gray tones, with lots of concrete and metal. While it had similarities to the warehouse that had been her involuntary home for several months, the homey touches were what convinced her that she hadn’t dreamed of her escape.

“Oh, hey there, you’re awake,” the woman in the corner said. “I’m Jiya. How are you feeling, Mrs. Flynn?”

“Uh, just Lorena’s fine…. My baby- I passed out, what happened? Is she okay?” Lorena slowly sat up in the bed. Glancing down, she noticed she’d been changed into an overlarge sweater and sweatpants. “Who changed me?”

“Yeah, you kinda missed a lot.” Jiya moved forward and sat at the foot of the bed. “You and your baby are just fine. The doctor said you fainted from exhaustion, your baby is perfectly healthy. All that running just wore you out. You’re safe now, you’re in my room at our safehouse- it’s actually an underground bunker but it’s home! Denise pulled some strings and had you transferred to a fake secure medical facility under the name of national security or something. I’m still amazed at what you can get away with if you just wave a badge around. I mean, you were asleep the whole time and one flash of a badge and they let us wheel you out of there. The matching wedding bands helped, so did Flynn telling the whole hospital you were his wife. I helped him get you changed out of that hospital gown and into some of his clothes. They're a little big but seem pretty comfy. After that, Flynn went with Wyatt and Christopher to find Lucy and your daughter. To be honest, I’m pretty sure that he left them behind somewhere because Wyatt just called me and told me that they split up and he had no idea which direction to go in next. I’m a bit of a whiz with technology so I was able to back trace your movements through traffic cameras to a local warehouse district and then search purchase records for the various individual buildings. Any questions?”

Well damn. Lorena was glad she was used to conducting interviews and gathering information in all forms quickly. This girl could info-dump like nobody’s business! “You’re very thorough,” she commented. Lorena decided she liked her.

Jiya perked up. “Thanks! Do you need anything?”

“Can you show me around? I haven’t really had much of a change of scenery the past few months.”

Lorena followed Jiya on a tour of the bunker. They wound up in a sitting area with a view of the Lifeboat, mugs of tea in hand. Jiya told her about the other members of the “Time Team” as she called them, various current events, and pop culture happenings. It was nice to just talk to someone, and Jiya was happy to provide light conversation about anything and everything. Despite that, Lorena missed Lucy. She missed Iris.

As though summoned by her thoughts, an alarm sounded. Jiya sprang from her seat and over to a bank of computers to silence them. “It’s the proximity sensor. Looks like Flynn’s back!”

Lorena slowly set her mug down and pushed herself to her feet. There, coming through the large metal door, was her family.

Garcia was dressed in tactical gear, carrying Iris in one arm, his other hand on the small of Lucy’s back. Dimly, Lorena was aware of Christopher and Logan following them and two other men coming out of the residence area of the bunker to stand next to Jiya.

“Iris, Lucy!” She stepped forward and Lucy’s eyes lit up. Iris sat up in her father’s arm, calling for her mother. Garcia set her down and she ran forward. Lorena wrapped her arms around her daughter and felt something inside settle into place.

“Mommy, guess what? Daddy found us!”

“Yeah baby, he sure did.” Lorena looked into her husband’s eyes and mouthed her thanks. His smile took her breath away. She turned to the woman standing to the side. “Lucy, are you okay?”

“Oh yeah, I’m fine! What about you and the baby?” Lucy moved forward, about to rest a hand on Lorena’s stomach before freezing. She glanced over her shoulder at Garcia, almost guiltily.

Lorena reached out, grabbed her hand and placed in on her stomach. “We’re both so much better now that you’re here.”

She reached over Iris and wrapped Lucy in a tight hug. “I’m so happy to see you!” Lucy whispered into her ear.

Lorena squeezed her tighter. “Me too. I can't believe we made it out.” She glanced over at Garcia, sending him a silent look of approval. He bowed his head, a faint blush rising on his cheeks. So Lucy had told him about their conversations.

She knew that there was a lot to be settled still, but it would all work out. As Iris called Garcia over to join the group hug, Lorena found that, for the first time in months, she was no longer afraid. With a couple new members, the Flynn family was back together.

Safe with her daughters, her husband, and her partner- Lorena Flynn was looking forward to the future.


End file.
